The relationship between philately and the Olympic Movement is explored. Host countries issue many commemorative stamps to help finance the Games, and participating countries and even non-participating countries commemorate the Games with their own stamps. In this way the ideals of the Olympic movement are conveyed through philately, namely the promotion of understanding among peoples of the world.

London: India's Sushil Kumar won India its sixth and
final medal of the 2012 London Olympics after settling for silver in the final
of the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling event on Sunday. But Sushil has created
history by becoming the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals.

Sushil, who reached the final after defeating Akzhurek
Tanatarov of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals, was beaten by Japan's Tatsuhiro
Yonemitsu 3-1 in a short and swift final bout at the ExCel Arena.

The Japanase took the first period 1-0 and midway through
the second clinched gold by virtue of a strong throw that sent Sushil to the
mat.

Sushil, a bronze medallist in 2008 at Beijing, fought
bravely after vomiting and suffering dehydration following his semi-final
victory but ended up on the losing side against his strong Japanese rival at
the ExCel Arena.

The final was held inside three hours after his
semi-final victory over Kazakhstan's Tanatarov. And to add to the 29-year-old
Indian fighter's woes he had picked up a neck injury too that hampered his
progress against Guangzhou Asian Games champion Yonemitsu.

Earlier, the 29-year-old Indian demolished Tanatrov of
Kazakhstan 3-1 in an engrossing semi-final contest to achieve the memorable
feat and provide a late spark to India's Olympic campaign.

Sushil, the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent here,
kept his reputation intact with a stunning display of skill, stamina and power
as he wriggled out of some difficult positions to fashion victories.

Backed by vociferous Indian spectators, Sushil wrapped up
the first period 3-0 in the high-voltage semi-final clash against Tanatrov but
lost the second by an identical score.

In the crucial third round, the Indian was lagging 0-3
behind but he showed his class and strength to fightback and level the score
after pegging him down by his legs with the vociferous Indian contingent egging
him on.

With 34 seconds left, the Indian scored two more points
to move to 5-3 and then, with just seconds left in the contest, he sealed his
victory by lifting his rival on to his shoulders and throwing him down on the
mat to win the third period 6-3 to enter the finals.

Before that, Sushil disposed of defending champion
Ramazan Sahin of Turkey in the Round of 16 and then prevailed over Uzbekistan's
Ikhtiyor Naruzov 3-1 in the quarter-final.

The Indian appeared a little rusty in the first period of
his bout against Sahin in the pre-quarter finals but found his mojo to tilt the
scale in his favour from the second onwards.

Sushil lost the first period 0-2 and then took advantage
of the click to scrape past in the second round with a 1-0 scoreline. He played
it safe in the third round and did not take too many risks but managed to get
one point to get the better of the Beijing Olympic gold medallist.

In the quarter final, Sushil showed his aggressive
instincts a little more as he tried to rattle the Uzbek opponent by trying out
different grips.

The Indian wrestler bagged the first period quite
comfortably with a 3-1 margin but conceded two points late in the second to
lose 1-2.

With scores tied at 1-1, Sushil went for an all out
attack and relied on his experience to secure two points and romp into the
semi-finals much to the delight of the hordes of flag-waving Indian spectators
who cheered him lustily.

Apart from Sushil's silver, India bagged one silver and
four bronze medals in the 30th edition of the Games, surpassing the one gold
and two bronze medals they won in Beijing four years ago.

India's
MC Mary Kom scripted history by becoming the country's first
woman boxer to win a medal at the Olympics when she finished with a bronze in
the 51 kg event at the London Games on Wednesday.

Mary
Kom, who had been assured of
the bronze on Monday itself when she reached the semi-finals, could not proceed
further as she went down fighting in her pre-summit bout against local
favourite Nicola Adams.

Losing
6-11, Mary Kom became only the
second Indian boxer after Vijender
Singh to win an Olympic medal. Vijender
got a bronze in Beijing fours years ago.

Buoyed
by the presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron and star professional
boxer Amir Khan, second-seed
Nicola put up a flawless performance.

From
the start, Mary Kom struggled
to cope up with the Briton's speed. She came under pressure in the first round,
having to fend off Nicola's powerful punches.

A
couple of times the 29-year-old Indian, a mother of twins, was pinned in the
corner and took some major blows, losing the first round 1-3.

The
second round was closer as both boxers tried to assert their dominance.
However, the five-time World Champion found it difficult to get her way around
her quick opponent, who narrowly edged the round 2-1.

The
Manipuri stuck it out in
the third round before losing it by a whisker.

The
final round went pretty much in similar fashion as Mary Kom found it hard to cope with Nicola's superior
size. With time running out, the Indian went hell for leather but fell short
and lost the round 2-3.

The
Indian shared the bronze with US's MarlenEsparza. Women's boxing is
making its Olympic debut in London. Both semi-finals losers are awarded bronze
medals.

A
happy Mary Kom said she was
satisfied with her effort.

"It
has been a tough journey. I carried on with the support of family and friends.
I want to continue playing the game. Despite the loss today, I am satisfied
with the way I performed.

Mary
Kom's journey to the top
of women's world boxing has been an arduous one. With all she has done for the
sport, very few people have acknowledged her feats.

Inspired
by famous Manipuri boxer Dingko Singh, an Asian Games gold
medallist, Mary Kom gave up
books for boxing gloves. But she had to hide her interests from her family. All
that changed after her victory in the Manipur
state women's boxing championship in 2000.

If
growing up in the strife-torn state of Manipur
was hard, the road to the London Games was harder.

In
the inaugural 2001 World Championship, she won the silver and her golden run
started in 2002. In 2003, Mary Kom
was awarded the Arjuna Award.

Mary
Kom became a legend in women's
boxing as she bagged a hat-trick of World Championship titles here in 2006.
Calls for Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna, the country's highest sports honour, became
louder but Mary Kom was
ignored repeatedly.

The
Manipuri fighter vented
out her anger after she was ignored despite winning the world title for the
record fourth consecutive time in 2008.

Finally,
she got the KhelRatna along with Beijing Games
bronze medallists Sushil
Kumar and Vijender Singh.

Being
a police officer in Manipur,
she had to do her job, find time and opponents to practice, and then hunt for funds to build up
international experience.

After
her success, Mary Kom married KOnlerKom and has twin sons, Rechungvar and Khupneivar. Not only does she
have to lend emotional support to her young family but financially she is the
main source of income.

Her
husband Onler also played a
crucial role in her growth and time and again Mary Kom has given him all the credit. He had to stay at
home and cater to their twin sons while Mary Kom travelled the world trying to bring laurels.

After
a two-year sabbatical that saw her start a family, Mary Kom came back strongly to win the World Championship
twice.

After
the news of inclusion of women's boxing in the Olympics for the first time,
Mary Kom had to make a huge
change, going to 51kg
category from the 46kg class,
where she has fought for most part of her life.

LaishramDevendro Singh is the only Indian boxer left in
the Olympics. He takes on Irish boxer Barnes Paddy in the quarter-finals later
Wednesday.

Apart
from Mary Kom's bronze,
there was another piece of good news for India from the showpiece track and
field. Middle-distance runner TintuLuka qualified for the
semi-final of the women's 800 metres.

Tintu, who is coached by
the legendary PTUsha,
finished third in the second heat with a timing of 2:01.75 seconds. It was
below her personal best of 1:59.17 seconds achieved two years back.

﻿

Yogeshwar Dutt wins Olympic Bronze in 60kg freestyle
wrestling

London: India's Yogeshawar
Dutt clinched a bronze in the Olympic Games after beating North Korea's Jong
Myong Ri 3-1 in the 60kg freestyle play-off for the medal at the ExCel arena
here on Saturday.

Yogeshwar fought back strongly in the repechage rounds to notch up three
successive victories in the space of less than an hour to provide India its
fifth medal at the London Games and the first on the mat.

The 29-year-old from Sonepat in Haryana, who had missed a medal four years ago
at the Beijing Olympics, showed excellent technique and fighting spirit to
bring off three memorable wins on the trot for the bronze.

In the repechage rounds, in which he had to beat three opponents, Yogeshwar
started off with a win over World Championship runner-up Franklin Gomez Matos
of Puerto Rico and followed it with another brilliant victory over Iran's
Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari to be one win away from a medal.

The two victories that came within the space of 20 minutes got Yogeshwar's
adrenaline going and he brought off another stupendous come from behind victory
over his North Korean rival to fetch the bronze.

In the all-important medal round, Yogeshwar started on a wrong foot conceding a
point to his strong North Korean rival, who seemed to have the upper hand
initially.

However, the tide changed drastically in favour of the Indian in the next
period in which he took a point to draw level with Myong Ri and leave the stage
set for a dramatic finish.

But as things turned out, Yogeshwar was at the height of his prowess in the
final period which saw him score a staggering six technical points in a jiffy
to seal the issue in his favour.

Using all his experience and technique to the fullest, Yogeshwar managed to
pull Myong Ri down on the mat, and then rolled him over a few times to lay
claim on the well-deserved bronze, which he has been yearning for the past four
years.

Yogeshwar earlier fought off the challenges from Matos and Esmaeilpoorjouybari,
winning 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, to be in the contention for the bronze medal.

The Haryana grappler got lucky against Matos, winning the toss on both the
occasions to earn a clinch position, which the experienced grappler, in his
third Olympics, converted to the best of his capabilities.

With the score line reading 0-0 at the end of the first period, Yogeshwar got
into the favourable position and was able to get one technical point, which was
enough to gain the initial advantage.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Hold the vans! Hard on the heels of the women’s rowing success Bradley Wiggins scores an Olympic gold medal in the men’s cycling time trial.

Royal Mail will have a Gold Medal stamp to celebrate Bradley’ gold medal win ready to buy by tomorrow. The fleet of 90 Royal Mail vehicles has been held back and will deliver the stamps across the UK to over 500 Post Offices to be on sale by lunchtime tomorrow.
Bradley won Gold less than two weeks after becoming the first British rider to triumph in the Tour de France. He is now Britain’s most decorated Olympian with seven medals, including four Gold.
Royal Mail will also paint a Post Box gold to celebrate his win and the commemorative stamps will be available tomorrow at the Post Office on Cleveland Street in Bradley’s home town of Chorley. An additional 4,700 post offices will receive the Gold Medal stamps within a week.